Showdown looms over proposed Americus quarry

A sign against the proposed Rogers Group quarry Monday, May 12, 2014, in Americus. On Monday, Rogers Group withdrew, for the time being, its request to operate a stone quarry near Americus in order to address the concerns of area residents.(Photo: John Terhune/Journal & Courier, John Terhune/Journal & Courier)Buy Photo

There’s a showdown brewing over the proposed limestone quarry near Americus, and it comes to a head at 10 a.m. Monday at the Tippecanoe County commissioners’ meeting in the County Building.

Rogers Group proposed the quarry last year, and residents in the area quickly formed the Americus Area Community Coalition to block the mining on a flat, north of Old Indiana 25, just east of Americus.

On June 16, the commissioners gave the coalition a boost. The three-member board approved the first of two readings of an ordinance that would ban new quarry operations if 100 residences are within a two-mile radius of a proposed quarry.

But the first approval of the ordinance came in under the radar, since it was not on the agenda. Monday morning, both sides are prepared with presentations, Commissioner Tom Murtaugh said.

“You’re always open to hearing both sides of it,” Murtaugh said. “You have to be.”

But if emails are any indication of the community’s sentiment, odds are against Rogers Group.

“I’m getting a ton of emails, all urging us to vote yes on the second reading,” Murtaugh said last week. “I haven’t received any emails in support of the quarry.”

Murtaugh and Commissioner John Knochel will be the only two people voting, Murtaugh said. Commissioner Dave Byers is on vacation.

Knochel has voiced doubts about the quarry, and Murtaugh has not been overwhelmingly supportive of it. The ordinance last month passed in a 3-to-0 vote.

Rogers Group had received its paperwork from state agencies for the quarry and needed only a special exception approved by the Tippecanoe County Board of Zoning Appeals in order to begin its operation. But in May, Rogers Group withdrew its application with the BZA in order to build understanding with its would-be neighbors. It was then that the commissioners drafted the proposed ordinance.

County Attorney Doug Masson said last week that the fact that the ordinance was introduced after Rogers Group pulled its application strengthened the county’s position, should Rogers Group challenge the ordinance in court.

But Rogers Group announced Thursday that it had refiled its application with a few modifications tailored to the neighbors’ concerns, bolstering its argument that the application was on file at the time of the ordinance’s second reading — and presumably its approval.

“When I saw the filing,” Murtaugh said, “I only thought one thing: We’re going to court. At least at some point we will.”

The Rogers Group’s latest filing won't change Monday’s final vote on the ordinance, Murtaugh said, noting it still was possible the Rogers Group might get the Board of Zoning Appeals approval it needs, leaving the quarry blocked only by the county ordinance.

“We set out to ask citizens how they thought our plan could be better,” Rogers Group Vice President Andy Williams said in a press release on Thursday. “The feedback we received from the residents overwhelmingly focused on wells, noise and operating hours. The new conditions in our modified proposal reflect their input. Our conversation with the community will remain an ongoing process.”

The new application proposes to restrict 24-hour operations to no more than three months in a 12-month period, and it would generally have blasting operations only between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., and no later than 5 p.m.

To keep the dust down, trucks hauling limestone from the proposed quarry would have to be tarped, and Rogers Group would construct a fence around the processing area.

Addressing the neighbors’ concerns over their wells, Rogers Group commits to “repair, replace or compensate any neighbor for any substantial impairment to nonsignificant groundwater well.”

The Journal & Courier reached out to Andy Gutwein, Rogers Group attorney, for a preview of Monday’s presentation, but Gutwein was out of the office last week.

For their part, the Americus neighbors plan a lengthy presentation with various members speaking for the maximum five minutes, said Nate Hofmann, vice president of Americus Area Community Coalition.

“All we got planned for this is backing them up with factual information,” Hofmann said, explaining they will be citing various environmental studies, including some from the Environmental Protection Agency. “It’s mostly presenting the health and safety issues.”

The owners of the land for the proposed quarry, Larry Bosma and his brother, Henry, had planned to lease the land to Rogers Group.

Larry Bosma has vacation plans and said he will not attend the meeting, but it is likely his brother will, Larry said last week.

Larry Bosma, while not unsympathetic to his neighbors’ concerns, said some of their information is incorrect. He anticipates that Rogers Group will rebut the neighbors’ information, and he hopes the ordinance fails.